Seven Days
by MedliSage
Summary: At some point in Neku's life, he had heard that it only took seven days to fall in love. What a load of crap.


At some point in Neku's life, he had heard that it only took seven days to fall in love. What a load of crap. What complete and utter bullshit. How could he ever come to love someone, let alone in seven days?

He thought something similar when he woke up in the Scramble Crossing for the second time. This is bullshit. He shouldn't have had to go through this stupid, hellish Game in the first place, and now he had to do it all over again. Not that he really had much of a choice.

And then he met him, Joshua, the prissy know-it-all, and Neku was pretty sure things couldn't get worse. It was enough that he had to play the Game a second time but now he was stuck with this brat. Fantastic.

The first day was quick enough. The second day came, and with it, a new mission. Which is what Neku had to focus on. And not, that for whatever reason, when he scanned Joshua, Neku's quite possibly dead body seemed to be in the kid's memories; worst-case scenario, he was partnered to his own murderer. The week was really setting up to be just great. Whatever. It was just six more days. He could bear with it. It's not like he was planning on getting buddy buddy with this kid anyway.

"Eliminate the Noise possessing people here," Neku muttered, mostly to himself, upon hearing the condition to clear the impeding wall.

"Well," Joshua said, "they usually target folks who are negative…"

Neku looked over at him, and suddenly Joshua was not where he had been just a second ago, now he was just a few inches away from Neku's face; Neku could see every shade of striking violet in his eyes from this distance, he could see every strand of hair that so cutely framed his face -

"Wh-what?!" He suddenly blurted, not too sure if it was to Joshua or his own thoughts, as he took a step back.

"Oh, nothing," Joshua replied, voice like bells, as he moved away. "...I just hate negative people, don't you?"

Neku nearly scowled. It was bullshit that he was this aggravating and it was bullshit that Neku was pushing to the very deepest darkest corner of his mind the fact that in all honestly, he was disappointed when Joshua backed off.

The third day went off to just a great start. How was he supposed to get through another four days with this kid, who seemed perfectly fine just tricking Neku into sprinting across Shibuya with fake mission mail? Neku left WildKat nearly scowling, trying to figure out how to make it through this week when he couldn't trust a word Joshua said.

And then Neku just had to go and ask Mr. H how he knew Joshua.

"What, me and Josh?" He replied. "I've known him for a while now. He'd swing by when he was bored, and we'd talk. See, he's a little special…"

"'Special?'"

"Yeah. He sees things."

"Things? Like what? 'I see dead people,' kind of sees things?"

"Pretty much. That's how he knew about the Game. He saw Players and Reapers and all when he was still alive."

Neku felt a dull pain in his chest. "Oh…"

"And when he wanted to talk about it, he came to me. There aren't many folks who'd listen, if you know what I mean. In a way, he's been alone all his life. He's pretty aloof, and can get prickly from time to time, but he's not a bad kid. In any case, he's your partner. You're gonna have to make friendly."

Neku wondered, for a moment, what it would have been like be able to see the UG since birth, before dying. The pain in his chest became sharper. Curiosity killed the cat.

The rest of the day went by relatively smoothly. Sometimes Neku would look over at Joshua and find himself wondering things. What had it been like being able to see the UG when he was alive? What was he after? How did he even die? What was his life like before he died? He found himself curious about Joshua, he wanted to know more about him. But hell would freeze over before he would talk to the priss about anything that wasn't related to getting through this week. Why was Neku even wondering these things? It didn't matter. It was just stupid bullshit.

He had broken from this reverie of thoughts at one point, after they had freed Prince from the Noise possessing him.

"Dunno why he's so hung up on ramen," Neku said with a sigh.

Joshua giggled lightly, and somehow Neku wasn't overwhelm with annoyance by it like he had been two days prior. "We all have our hang-ups."

"Ugh, I don't get it," Neku grumbled.

"Of course you don't."

"What?"

"Everyone has their own little internal world - a secret garden only they can enter. Each world follows its own internal logic - individuality. And the logic of one world means nothing in another. ...Understanding other people isn't hard, Neku. It's impossible."

"Yeah," Neku replied, a bit slow, nodding once. That was the first time he had heard someone say something like that, something he had thought in the back of his mind for so long but hadn't quite put into words. Joshua, of all people, seemed to see people in the same light he did. How strange.

And so the third day passed and the fourth day came. He was just about halfway there.

"This isn't fair, Neku," Joshua said with a pout as Neku won another round of Tin Pin. "When did you suddenly become a Tin Pin Expert?"

"And why should I answer that?" Neku said, finding it hard to keep the smile off his face.

"How about because I'm asking you!?"

And oh boy was it hard for Neku to hold back a laugh. Since they had met Neku had never seen Joshua quite like this, so surprisingly childish, cute, even. Part of him wanted to play Joshua again, not to get the leverage of waiting another hour for a mission, but just to see Joshua get so worked up again.

But he didn't, and after some waiting and some bartering, Neku had gotten the answer to one of his questions. Well, sort of. He should have expected it, but when Neku asked Joshua what he was after he had gotten what you could barely call an answer, with minimal information. And then, of course, he had a question bounced back at him.

"What's waiting for you in the RG? You're as alone there as here. What's the difference?"

That had been what Joshua had asked him, and Neku was unable to reply. He was right, really. But Shiki's life was on the line, so even if there was no real difference to Neku, he had to keep going. Yet when Joshua had asked him that, Neku almost felt like a heavy weight was being pressed onto his chest, and somewhere distantly he wondered how Joshua knew these feelings that Neku might not have even been consciously aware of himself. The only way, Neku thought, is that Joshua felt the same way. In that way, even if Joshua was kind of a brat, there was a certain ease in talking to him, Neku had come to feel; a certain ease of mutual feelings, toward the world, toward people, and perhaps even something close to an understanding of each other, or as close as two people could get, anyway. After all, Joshua had said himself that it was impossible for people to understand one another. And Neku fully agreed.

He wasn't sure quite what he had expected to come of day four, but running around Shibuya as two detectives in a theft case certainly wasn't it. Perhaps it would be more accurate to say that Neku was following around Joshua the detective, who seemed to be getting quite wrapped up in the business. It was cute, honestly, how invested he seemed to get in it, and Neku wondered if he maybe liked mysteries or this was a convenient relief of boredom, or both. Regardless, Neku could not help but feel a twinge of disappointment when the case came to a close, and their little escapade with it.

Not long after, they ended up at Udagawa, and Neku could feel his heart starting to pound. This is the place he had seen in Joshua's head - the place, quite probably, where Neku had died - and possibly, where Joshua had killed him.

...Or not. Perhaps Neku had been assuming things. Whatever was in Joshua's head wasn't conclusive evidence of anything. There was no real reason to think Joshua had anything to do with his death at all. Really, Neku was being overly suspicious -

"Still with me, Neku?" Joshua's voice came, breaking Neku out of his thoughts.

"Huh?"

"You spaced out."

"Oh… sorry." Yeah. There was no reason to suspect Joshua of anything. It was stupid to be suspicious. There was no reason that the rest of the week couldn't go by like today, easy and relatively enjoyable, honestly, and -

"You're giving me déjà vu."

Neku's heart nearly stopped. "What!?" What did he mean? From when? Had Joshua - really seen Neku die?

…He didn't have a choice. He had to scan him again.

And when he did, when he saw Joshua shoot him, he felt like he had taken a bullet to the heart all over again.

And so came the fifth day, the fifth day of Neku being partnered to his own damn killer - everytime he thought of that he felt like he was a vice was growing tight around his chest, and his only saving grace was that he only had to do this for a couple more games. How dare Joshua. How dare he. How dare he be the way he was, how dare he let Neku relate to him like that, only so that Neku could find out that he _killed_ him, how dare he how _dare _he -

Somehow he found himself gather up the willpower ask again exactly what Joshua was after, giving him the ultimatum of telling him or Neku was leaving him on his own. Part of him wanted Joshua to say well then go, because I'm not telling you, because part of Neku didn't want to be around Joshua any more. At all. Why the hell was it only part of him, anyway? If Joshua had killed him, surely no part of Neku should want to be around him, at all, and yet there was, there undeniably was, and it was making Neku sick to his stomach.

But Joshua did answer him, with a rather surprising amount of information, to be honest, and Neku wasn't quite sure why he was so surprised that Joshua's big plan was to find the Composer and then bust in on him and take Shibuya for himself, but he was. Really, though, he shouldn't have been, because it seemed like Joshua, all these careful plans and pieces all setting up to some kind of grand design.

And now here Neku was talking like he _knew_ Joshua, like he had known him for years. The knot in his stomach only got bigger.

And on top of that, it was as if Joshua felt this pressing need to rub salt into wounds that he shouldn't even know were there.

"Say, Neku..." he said, as they were passing by the Moyai Statue near the West Exit Bus Terminal, "Do you know how this statue got here?"

"No clue," Neku replied, trying to sound as disinterested as possible.

"Well... It was a gift. The island of Niijima presented it in 1980 to commemorate a century under Tokyo administration. The name sounds like the Easter Island Moai statues it resembles - but, as it happens, in the Niijima dialect, 'moyai' also means 'working together.'"

"No kidding."

"Just like you and me, Neku. The very picture of 'moyai.'"

Neku bit his tongue, hard.

After however long of seemingly meaningless walls and wall clear conditions, they finally found themselves back at WildKat, as per Joshua's wishes, of course - something was wrong with the tracker or whatever, and Mr. H had headed to the back to fix it. So Neku and Joshua were left alone in the front room, a dead silence enveloping them - and naturally, Neku found his mind wandering to the endless amount of questions he had. Why did Joshua kill him? Was it just so that they could partner up? Why would he want Neku as a partner anyway?

"Hey," Neku finally said. "Why'd you make a pact with me?"

"Hmm?" Joshua said, turning around and meeting Neku's gaze evenly. "What's this, now?"

"When we first met, you said you'd been watching me," Neku explained, choosing his words carefully. "What does that mean?"

"...Ahh," Joshua said after a pause, and by now Neku could tell by the way his eyes looked that he had been turning at least a few different things over in his mind in a hundred different ways in those few seconds. "So that's what this is all about." Another pause, and Joshua's eyes glanced to the floor. "I've always been able to see the UG."

That didn't really answer Neku's question, yet somehow Neku didn't find himself upset about that at all; instead he found himself curious. Of course, Mr. H had already told him about Joshua's ability, but the thought of hearing about it from Joshua himself compelled Neku to ask further, "Even when you were alive?"

"That's right. Lucky me, right? I saw things others couldn't. I knew about the Game here in Shibuya. I saw the Players. Reapers, Noise… The whole works."

"So you were watching from the RG."

"The Game intrigued me. I was following it on my own when I met Mr. H."

By now, Neku's question was long forgotten, and he found his previous endless line of questions replaced with completely new ones - about Joshua. "When was that?"

"Oh, years ago. So I became a regular at his shop, listening to his stories. The more he told me about the UG, the more I came to see its charm."

"What charm?"

"People racing across the city in a life-or-death struggle? Find me another rush like that in Shibuya. Life for me was one giant bore. Just the same thing, day after day… Now _that_ felt like death."

Neku's eyes had been so intently focused on Joshua's face, so it was only as his gaze fell to the floor again that Neku noticed that Joshua's hands were curled into fists, his posture stiff, so unnatural for him. Neku's chest felt a bit heavier. "So you… came here?"

"Yeah. I decided I belonged in the UG."

The weight in Neku's chest felt hot now, suddenly reminded of why he had started this line of questions in the first place. "...And you thought I did, too?"

"...Hm?"

"You want to be here? Fine. But not me." Neku felt the hot anger seeping into his blood, pushing his thoughts out of his mouth before he could consider them. "You ki-"

"All done!"

It was probably good that Mr. H interrupted when he did, because no matter how upset Neku was, accusing Joshua wasn't going to get him anywhere. He was still stuck with him for two more days.

Despite that, Neku's anger was pushed into the back corners of his mind as they passed one of CAT's works near Towa Records.

"This is CAT's latest…" Neku said, staring at it with admiration.

"Shibuya's full of his stuff, hmm?" Joshua said, look at it with a vague disinterest. "It must take a ton of time. I'm surprised he keeps that silly café open."

"Huh?" Neku asked, looking over to Joshua, perplexed. "CAT opened a café? Where? In Shibuya?"

"You feeling alright, Neku? How many times have you been there now?"

"What!? Where the heck is it?"

"Cat street, silly," Joshua said with a that stupid, cute, playful smile.

"Cat…! No way!"

"Yes, way. CAT is Mr. H."

"_No way!_ Mr. Hanekoma!? Is CAT!? Whoa… whoa! Okay, calm down."

Joshua giggled, eyes seeming just a bit softer as he looked at Neku's sheer amaze. "I'll try."

"Mr. H? Seriously? I don't believe it!"

"How did you not know this? I thought you were CAT's biggest fan."

"He never does interviews in person," Neku explained, voice quick and eyes bright. "He's never released any photos, either. I never even knew he was a 'he!' Man... Mr. Hanekoma... I can see it, though. From the first time I saw him, I knew he was special. Damn, I've talked to CAT! That is freaking_ rad!"_

Again, Joshua giggled, the smile on his face seeming to stretch a little wider, and when he spoke to Neku, his voice was just a tad softer. "I'm happy you're happy. Just don't tell anyone where you heard, hmm?"

"I won't," Neku said happily, his attention turning back to the art.

"I still don't get why he's so popular," Joshua said after a few moments, his gaze too focused on the work in front of them. "It's just street art."

"CAT's work all follow a single, consistent aesthetic," Neku replied, adoration filling his voice. "And he keeps the quality up. Most important, his work speaks to people."

"I see," Joshua said rather disinterestedly.

"That's tougher than it sounds."

"Is it?" Joshua questioned, turning his head toward Neku. "I bet you'd have little trouble."

"Huh?" Neku said, returning Joshua's gaze with a confused expression.

"Use your Player Pin."

"What's that got to do with -"

"If you know what people are thinking, it's easy to grab them."

"It… it would be an advantage," Neku said slowly, eyes moving to the ground.

"Right," Joshua replied, as if it were the most obvious thing in the world. "Why bother with talk? With sifting through the lies we all tell? You could talk till you're blue in the face and not hear the truth. And we all see things differently anyway."

Something about Joshua's words made Neku's chest feel tight; whether it was the fact that he had thought to himself those exact things time and time again, or the way Joshua was saying it, he wasn't sure. "It's true," he said after a moment. "We're not meant to see eye to eye." Neku's gaze fell further to the ground as he turned the idea over in his head. Maybe he had it wrong.

"You okay, Neku?"

"Yeah, I could try to be CAT with this pin," Neku said, looking back up at Joshua. "But why? Where's the enjoyment in that? I'd rather broaden my world my own way."

For a few seconds Joshua was silent, and it was the first time that Neku had seen Joshua seemingly at a loss for words. He was looking at Neku with an indiscernible expression, and Neku found himself hoping that maybe Joshua was thinking about what he had said. Because of Joshua could come to see things like that, too, then maybe Joshua wouldn't be so distant, so isolated, and maybe just maybe Neku could come to understand him -

"Neku…" he finally said, his eyes wrought with an emotion Neku had never seen before - it unnerved him a bit, it reminded him a bit of how Joshua looked when he was talking about when he had been alive, watching the UG. Neku found himself leaning forward just a bit, like how a concerned friend would to another. And then Joshua just giggled, that stupid smirk coming onto his face again. "Your face is priceless."

Neku scowled. How dare he. And only when they started making their way back to the Scramble did Neku remember that he had been talking to his killer, and not anyone that he should even remotely consider a friend.

The sixth day arrived not long after. Not too surprisingly after Joshua's bombshell that he was playing the Game alive, Neku had let his emotions get ahead of him and now Joshua was aware that Neku knew full well that Joshua had killed him. Yet somehow Neku didn't find it impeding their performance in battles or anything that involved them working together, at all - in fact, as the week had gone on, Neku had noticed that he seemed to be performing better than he had with Shiki, a fact which really unnerved him when he recalled the words Mr. H had given him during first week - essentially, that success in the Game depending on how well you worked with your partner, how in sync you were. Was he really more in sync with Joshua than he had been with Shiki? No. Bullshit. It had to be something else - like, this was Neku's second week. He was more experienced. That was it. Surely.

He was thinking something along these lines after they wiped out another Noise that had suddenly appeared and attacked them, and tried to clear his thoughts by questioning a more pressing matter. "Why'd that Noise attack?"

"Just like yesterday," Joshua pondered, eyes a bit distant with that intense, analytical look Neku saw so often. "They attack without provocation. Some new type of Noise?"

And then Neku gasped, not because of the sudden flash of light, but because of the new Noise that had appeared behind Joshua. "Behind you!"

Joshua turned and Neku stepped forward, heart beating a hundred miles an hour, no, he wouldn't get there in time -

But by whatever means of fate, he didn't have to, as with another flash of light the Noise was gone as quickly as it had appeared.

"Wh-what just happened?" Neku said, heart throbbing unbearably loudly in his ears, adrenaline rushing through his veins.

"...It seems we owe someone for saving us," Joshua replied.

"Who?"

Joshua shook his head. "Either way, we were lucky. I shouldn't have been so careless. Stay sharp today, Neku. The Nose are on the march. Now - let's see what roads are open."

Neku nodded, body finally slowing from its rush. Joshua was safe. He took a deep breath, trying to return his heart rate to something normal. …Why did he even care? Joshua had _killed_ him! Why did he care what happened to him? Neku sighed inwardly, frustrated. …Shiki. Right. That was it. If Joshua died, Neku would be without a partner, and then he would have no hope of winning the Game, and then Shiki was doomed. That was it. What else could it be? That's the only thing that made sense. Then why did it take him so long to think of that?

For better or for worse, Neku didn't really have time to think on it, because where ever they turned it seemed as though someone was on the verge of death from this weird variation of Noise. Surprisingly, Joshua had agreed to try and help - even more surprisingly, Joshua had asked if Neku wanted to help before Neku brought it up at all. And as they watched Sota die, Neku caught a glimpse of Joshua - who was standing there, rigid, hands curled into fists. And somehow, Neku felt as though just a few days ago, he wouldn't be seeing this at all.

The rest of the day went as easy as it could; the Noise at Udagawa was a challenge, of course, but it seemed as if little or nothing could best Neku and Joshua together.

And so came the final day.

"Day seven…" Neku said, taking a deep breath.

"Indeed. Kind of a shame. We never found a way into the Shibuya River."

Neku looked over at him. He had to ask. He knew he probably wouldn't even get a straight answer, but he had to ask. He should have asked him yesterday. But he hadn't. He didn't want to know. And somehow it was almost like a part of him didn't want to admit it - didn't want to admit, to acknowledge, that Joshua had killed him. But that was the reality. Why did that even matter? Why was he so hesitant to acknowledge that Joshua had done it? He shook off the thought. "...Joshua… why'd you kill me?"

"I killed who, now?"

"Drop it, Josh." For whatever reason, it occurred to Neku in that split second that he had no idea when he had started calling Joshua Josh, or why he had started to do so. It had just kind of come naturally. As if it were natural to treat Joshua like a friend - oh God, stop it, stop it. "You said it yourself."

"I just ask what you'd do if I had."

"Look, did you or -" Of course, just then Neku's phone beeped. "Rrgh... The mission. When we're through with this, you're telling me everything." Why was Joshua being so damn elusive over whether even had done it or not? Maybe - maybe Joshua hadn't maybe that's why he was being like this -

Naturally, Joshua just giggled. "Whatever you say, Neku."

Climbing Pork City was more time-consuming than anything else - after all, wiping through regular Noise with Joshua as his partner seemed almost like child's play to Neku by now. And of course, Sho Minamimoto was at the top of it all. As it did every time Minamimoto was close to him, Neku's head felt as though it was starting to split. But what came after was unexpected.

Neku took heavy, quick breaths as he tried to regain sense of his surroundings, the memory he had suddenly seen playing back over in his head. "It… it was you?"

Somewhere, distantly, Neku heard Joshua's voice - it was almost _sad,_ almost - regretful. "Neku…"

But Neku couldn't focus on that right now. "You killed me…" he said, looking up at Minamimoto. "You stole my life!" All this time, it had been him. Not Joshua. Not Joshua. Joshua hadn't killed him. Strangely, Neku's chest felt light and heavy at the same time - Joshua _hadn't killed him. _Yet Neku had suspected him, had doubted him - but that was it. Now, he knew the truth. There was no more reason to have any kind of negative feelings toward Joshua, and with that, Neku's body felt light. After this, he could apologize to Joshua, and maybe once this Game was over they could go back to Ken Doi's and eat ramen together or they could play more Tin Pin or just _talk_, because never in his life had Neku found someone he could relate to so much, never in his life had Neku found someone he worked so well with. Never in his life had Neku found someone he was so fond of, even with all that had happened and all he had thought this past week.

But of course that couldn't happen.

They were as good as dead. Even if they had taken Minamimoto down, it appeared they were going down with him. There was nowhere to run.

And then Neku felt Joshua pushing him back, away from Minamimoto, away from their impending doom. "But Neku, I thought you couldn't afford to lose," he said, and Neku felt his heart racing, pounding, no, there was no time, "Give up on yourself, and you give up on the world."

Then everything was absorbed by the bright, devastating light.

However long later, Neku found himself waking up in a daze, his vision a bit blurry. "Where… am I? The Game ended!? Where? How?" That didn't matter - it rushed back to him, and he could only think of one thing. "Joshua! Where's Joshua?"

"Shh," a voice said.

Neku looked over at where it had come from. "Who…"

"Kudos. Victorious yet again."

"I'm… the only one?" Neku's breath was shaky, his heart drumming against his chest, feeling as though it was going to burst. Where was he, where was he -

"You play the Game well. Let me take a moment to congratulate you - and to thank you for your assistance."

"Assist you? I don't think so."

"Ah, but did you not rid us of Sho Minamimoto, the rebel?"

"Rebel? He wasn't on your side? Then that last mission -"

"Was issued by me."

"You used us!" Neku bit his tongue. He didn't have time to argue about this, there was something more important, dammit! "What did you do to Joshua?"

"Joshua is no more."

Neku's heart stopped. "No…"

"He took the brunt of Minamimoto's attack. Both boy and lion vanished. Nuked to oblivion, no doubt."

Neku's body felt weak. "Then he died… protecting me? Why would he do that?"

"He must have had some affection for you as a partner."

Neku was silent. No. No, no, no. His head was spinning, his body was shaking.

"He was a fool, though," Megumi continued. "No partner merits that kind of sacrifice."

"...I did this," Neku said quietly, biting down on his tongue so hard he tasted blood. He did this. He did this, he did this, he was the reason Joshua was dead. He didn't trust him. And he didn't even apologize. And now he would never see him again.

And beyond that, Neku realized, chest feeling like it was turning into solid ice, it really had only taken seven days.

* * *

ヽ(。_°)ノ useless and pointless during canon narrative


End file.
